Jennifer KayNational Student Officer

Why the prison system is not working

‘The first real principle which should guide anyone trying to establish a good system of prisons would be to prevent as many people as possible getting there at all’

- Winston Churchill

Before we start…

‘The degree of civilisation in a society can be judged by entering its prisons’

- Fyodor Dostoevsky

What is the Howard League?

Less crime, safer communities, fewer people in prison

How does the Howard League work?

Membership•4,000 members•Rely on their funding to keep charity running

Research•Commission academics•Variety of topics, from deaf prisoners to deaths on probation•Network for junior academics

Campaigns•Topics: women, children, policing, deaths in custody•Lobby MPs•Articles in press•Produce policy documents•National events •Student groups•U R Boss

Legal team•Represent children and young people in custody•Prison, public and criminal law •Free helpline in all children’s prisons

Campaigns and successes…

1905

 

Thomas Homes became Secretary of the Howard Association and campaigned for juvenile courts, time to pay fines, and special provision for mentally and physically unfit prisoners. It promoted probation and restitution for victims. 

1920 Howard Association assisted in the formation of the Magistrates’ Association. 

1925

 

Howard League pressed for standard minimum rules for treatment of prisoners and renewed pressure for the abolition of corporal punishment. 

1940 Howard League initiated correspondence courses for prisoners. 

1948 Corporal punishment was abolished.  

1969 The death penalty was abolished, nearly forty years after the Howard League first campaigned on the issue.

1970 Howard League campaigned for greater use of reparation, abolition of prison censorship and for presumption in favour of bail. 

Campaigns and successes…

1990 Improved procedures on suicide prevention and Inspector’s inquiry follow Howard League campaign

1991 Abolition of prison for 14 year olds, announced by Home Secretary at Howard League annual conference 

1996 The Howard League ran the campaign to stop pregnant prisoners being shackled. This led to the Home Secretary putting a stop to the practice. 

1997 The Howard League published Lost Inside, the first ever research on girls in prison. The research provided the basis of a legal challenge which forced a promise to end to the use of prison for girls aged fifteen and sixteen. 

2000s Citizenship and Crime project working with 9,000 children aged 11 – 15, involving 1,000 adult volunteers to prevent crime and anti-social behaviour. 

2005 Barbed, a unique graphic design enterprise, is launched at Coldingley Prison. The Howard League has always campaigned for real work in prisons. 

Key issues:

1.Reform prison sentences2.Investing in the community3.Justice for children and young people4.Change inside prisons

Useful for studies and available to download from the

website for free!

The agenda today

How many people are in prison in England and Wales today?

Sources:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liechtenstein

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/8599934/London-2012-Olympic-tickets-more-anger-as-20000-miss-out-for-second-time.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8259818.stmhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-12548153

The number of jobs that will be lost in the NHS over the next five years (53,000)

The maximum capacity of Wembley Stadium (90,000)

The number of athletes who competed at London 2012 (11,000)

The population of Liechtenstein

(36,500)

86,702(In 1994, the average prison

population was 48,631)

How much does it cost to keep one

person in prison for one year?

The cost of a new Mini (£11,000)

Sources:http://www.mini.co.uk/html/model_range/mini_first.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education.stmhttp://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/04/25/royals-42-000-train-to-beat-volcano-flight-ban-115875-22209726/

Debt that the average student will graduate from university with

(£23,000)

The cost of running one art exhibition in London for six weeks (£40,000)(The Zabludowicz Collection, if you’re interested)

£42,000per prison place per year

What do you get for your money?

• Overcrowding

• Violence

• Worst in Europe

• Re-offending

• Vulnerable peopleStrangeways Riots, 1990http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/mar/31/strangeways-riot-20-years-on

Overcrowding

•Over 12,000 prisoners are being held two to a cell designed for one

Violence

•15,000 acts of violence in one year

Worst in Europe

The English & Welsh prison rate in 2008 was 153 prisoners per 100,000

Re-offending

Characteristic General Population Prison population

Taken into care 2% 27%

Excluded from school 2% 49% Men, 33% Women

No qualifications 15% 52% Men, 71% Women

Homeless 0.9% 32%

Unemployed 5% 67%

Suffer from two or more mental illnesses 5% Men, 2% Women 72% Men, 70% Women

Drug Use 13% Men, 8% Women 66% Men, 55% Women

Suicide Rate 114 per 100,000 8.3 per 100,000

Source: Social Exclusion Unit, 2002

Vulnerable people

Women•Over half of women in prison have suffered domestic abuse •One in three have been victims of sexual abuse

Children•Two out of five girls and one out of four boys in prison report violence at home•One in three girls and one in 20 boys in custody have histories of sexual abuse•40% of children in prison have been homeless

More crime?

1997: 1,667,915 people found guilty

2007: 1,778,813 people found guilty

(www.moj.gov.uk)

In 2007, nearly 136,000 people were sentenced to custody; this is an increase of 40% since 1997.(Ministry of Justice, 2009)

So why do we have more people in prison?

• Longer sentences for the same crimes

Average time spent in prison has increased by 14% since 2000

• More people being sent to prison for crimes that would have previously received community sentences

78% increase

• IPP sentences (Indeterminate sentence for public protection)

The proportion of the sentenced prison population serving IPP or Life has increased from 9% in 1995 to 19% in 2009

• 19% increase in those sent to prison for breaches of parole licence and community supervision

Greater

criminalisation

So what’s the alternative?

Divert some groups of people away from prison entirely:•Children•Women

Change how we work inside prisons:•Safe conditions•Real work

Reform prison sentences•Prison for less than one year is ineffective•Stop the revolving door

Invest in the community•Promote community sentences•An intensive, individual solution

Community sentences

What is a community sentence?

• ‘Community Order’ (s.147 CJA 2003)

• One or more of twelve possible requirements, i.e. unpaid work or drug rehabilitation (s.177 CJA 2003)

• To be completed over a defined period• Most common order – a single requirement obliging the

offender to complete a specified number of unpaid work hours• Supervised by the National Probation Service

Case study: Sheffield Community Payback

Problem: A lunch club in Sheffield which served 300 old age pensioners could not cope with demand

Solution: Social services request help from South Yorkshire Probation Service

Sheffield Probation Lunch Clubs is formed

Situation: Flooding meant roads were blocked in Sheffield, so service users were told not to come in that day.

Outcome: Service users instead all put on their wellies, made it to the lunch club and worked longer hours until every pensioner had their lunch.

Why community sentences?

1. Community sentences cut crime: Over 61% of those sentenced to <year in prison will be reconvicted within two years of release. By contrast, the reoffending rate for community orders is 37%, falling to 34% for those on intensive programmes.

2. Offenders must make amends for what they have done: Community sentences can make a person take responsibility for what they have done and live a law-abiding life in the community.

3. Community sentences save money: Most community orders enforcing unpaid work or directly tackling problems such as accommodation or alcohol cost £2-3,000/yr. Intensive drug treatment orders in the community cost an average of £8,600/yr, with only 29% going on to reoffend.

What do we do about it?

•Campaigning for change•Community Programmes Awards•Open Days•Website•Student groups•Members

Thank you for listening.

Any questions?

jennifer.kay@howardleague.org

www.howardleague.org

Howard League for Penal Reform

@thehowardleague